


This Dream is Ours

by akielon



Series: What Happens Next [1]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Pedophilia (mentioned), Post-Kings Rising, laurent finally opens up and damen is there for him, raise your hand if you're still sad about nicaise, the regent is still a fucking dick even beyond death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 09:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11529717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akielon/pseuds/akielon
Summary: In which Damen finds it extremely tedious to lay around in bed all day, even if he’s recovering from a stab wound. Thankfully, Laurent is there for him, with his walls down, ready to share some details about his past never before spoken of.





	This Dream is Ours

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Captive Prince Anthology Project! Check it out on [tumblr](https://capri-anthology.tumblr.com/) !  
> Many thanks to my beta [Grace](http://littlekingofcats.tumblr.com) and to the wonderful [Petite](http://petitster.tumblr.com) for working with me on this project! This was an amazing experience!  
> This is part of a series I will be continuing in the very near future! Almost done with the next instalment!!  
> I hope you enjoy it!

Damen shifted in his bed, trying to bring back some feeling to his numb leg. The book he had unsuccessfully tried to read for the past half-hour fell from his lap, and he didn’t even bother to pick it up. He was rapidly growing tired of being confined to the same spot; by now, he had every single nook and cranny of the King’s room memorised. The ceiling had four spider-like cracks, the table that occupied the corner of the room was a bit askew, and there was a painting of King Theomedes in the far left wall where the artist didn’t quite manage to get his father's eyebrows right. It was unsettling to have him looming over the whole bedroom. Damen hoped his father wouldn’t begrudge him for having his portrait moved some place else.

Sighing, he adjusted himself into his bountiful pile of pillows, careful not to disturb the bandages on his abdomen. Only a week had past since his half-brother had stabbed him, only a week since Damen had offered him a way out and got laughed at. Thinking about Kastor still brought him a dull ache deep in his heart.

He didn’t like thinking about his brother. Laurent had told him he was repressing his grief, but Damen didn’t want to hear reason. He wanted to do something, anything, or else he’d lose his mind.

Damen swung a leg out of the bed, pausing before sitting up fully. He could move better after a week of rest, but it still had to be in small doses. Grabbing hold of the bed’s banister, he lifted himself up carefully. Damen huffed, still not used to how long it took him to do things now. He just wanted to eat something without having to call someone for help. He was halfway across the room when he heard the door open.

“If you get blood on your bandages again, I will personally cuff you to one of Paschal’s beds.”

Damen smiled, “Hello, lover.” He resumed his slow pace to the balcony, where the small assortment of cheeses and bread he had asked for was placed on a table.

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that,” Laurent replied casually, moving up to stand next to Damen.

“Then what would you prefer?” Damen looked down to meet Laurent’s eyes. “Sweetheart?”

Damen didn’t miss the amused tug at the corner of Laurent’s lips. 

Laurent slid his hand in Damen’s hand, linking their fingers together. “Perhaps something else.”

Damen ran his thumb across Laurent’s hand as he thought. “Love of my life? My sun, my moon, my stars? How about ‘the one I want to spend the rest of my days with?’”

At that Laurent smiled, a private smile, meant only for Damen’s eyes. “Those are as long as they are embarrassing,” he retorted, his voice as warm as his hand felt against Damen’s skin.

Filled with a sudden rush of overwhelming warmth towards the person in front of him, he rested his forehead against Laurent’s. He closed his eyes, basking in the feel of loving and being loved. He still had problems believing this was real. 

“I adore you,” he looked into his eyes, running his thumb across the slow-spreading blush on Laurent’s cheekbone, “I am so happy I get to have this.”

There was silence for a bit; Laurent’s blue eyes trained on Damen’s. He smiled, giving Laurent’s hand one last squeeze before he continued on his rather slow march to the balcony. 

The weather was as expected for an Akielon summer. The sky an endless plane of blue, the ocean breeze lingering in the air and the sun big and bright in the sky. Beyond the marble veranda, you could see the inner city bursting with early morning activity; merchants shouting their trade and children playing. To the left, the vastness of the ocean, its waves lulling back and forth.

“I never tire of this view,” Damen murmured to himself, sitting down on one of the chairs. He nibbled on a piece of cheese, more so that he had something to do than because he was hungry.

He watched Laurent as well. He had chosen to lean against a pillar over joining Damen. Perhaps out of consideration for his sensitive skin. Perhaps because he knew what he'd see if he stepped further into the balcony.

The Regent still graced the gates of the city, flanked on both sides by the proud starburst banner. A spike now held the head of the most dangerous and vile man Damen ever knew. 

“I think it's time to take him down,” he offered, careful to keep his voice neutral. He thought he heard Laurent hum in acknowledgement. Damen laid back against his chair, closing his eyes and enjoying the sun-kissed feeling on his skin. He was half asleep when he felt a hand on his arm.

“I hated him.”

Damen took in the tight line of his lips and the tension burrowed in Laurent’s shoulders.

“You grieve him.”

He surprised himself as much as he surprised Laurent with those words. It made sense, in a twisted and morbid way - the Regent had been Laurent’s only family after Auguste’s death. Damen let the silence grow between them. Laurent would speak when he was ready, and he would share what he was willing. Damen would not pry. He would not take more from Laurent.

“The night after Auguste-” Laurent stopped, his brows furrowing. “He came to my room. He hugged me all night and let me cry into his clothes until they were wet.”

Damen knew better than to reach for Laurent, despite his heart screaming at him to do so. Laurent looked out the veranda. 

“He did that every night for a month. Comforted me,” he spat the words. After a while he added, “Only with words, at first.”

Damen tensed, trying to put out the flares of anger rising inside him.

“It was very innocent in the beginning.” Laurent’s voice was eerily cold. “A goodnight kiss on the cheek. A too long embrace. Didn't take long until he got more...” A pause. “Adventurous.”

Damen counted his breaths, suppressing the urge to strangle an already dead man.

Sitting in the chair next to his, Laurent looked back at him. “I was so vulnerable, Damen.”

Damen’s heart broke at how defeated his eyes looked. Slowly, he raised his hand, leaving it hover close to Laurent’s face. At the small nod he got, Damen cupped Laurent’s smooth cheek.

“He took advantage of you,” he said, forcing his voice to stay steady. He had thought something like this had happened between Laurent and his uncle, but it was still devastating to have those suspicions confirmed.

Words failed him now, so Damen hoped his eyes would convey what he truly felt. That Laurent was the best man he had ever known. That his heart was kind and good, despite having more than enough reason not to be. That nothing that had happened to Laurent in the past could ever tarnish him.

“He did,” Laurent said in a small voice, looking Damen in the eyes. “Sometimes I dream of it. Of him.” A pause. “I don’t know if it will ever go away.”

This was Laurent, bare of his high, unbreachable walls. He was giving him this.  Damen lowered Laurent’s head to place a kiss on his forehead. 

“I do not know if this is something time will heal. Perhaps not.” He looked into Laurent’s blue eyes, “But I will be here for you,” he cupped Laurent’s face with both his hands. “I will always be here for you and I will always try to give you what you need.”

Laurent was silent, and Damen watched as the emotion on those blue eyes was pushed back down and turned into a cold stare. Old habits die hard, after all. Damen stepped back, giving Laurent some space, though he still held on to his hand, in an act he hoped was comforting. For a while Laurent kept his eyes trained on Damen’s chest, and perhaps it was Damen’s imagination, but when Laurent gazed back at him, he saw some of that vulnerability creep back into his eyes. Floored, Damen watched Laurent’s shoulders tense up with the effort of not shutting Damen off, of being vulnerable in front of someone else and not being afraid of the consequences. And then he kept going, slowly and painstakingly, but forward nonetheless. 

“After I-” Laurent furrowed his brows, his shoulder muscles incredibly tight. “Was no longer desirable,” he bristled, “I was so relieved.”

Damen frowned at the tone of utter disgust in Laurent’s voice. Why would he not be relieved when his torment was over? Why was there so much anger in Laurent’s eyes? 

And then it dawned on him.

“Nicaise,” his voice but a whisper.

Judging by the hard set of Laurent’s eyes, Damen was right. 

He didn’t want to be.

“You know how old he was at the time?” Laurent asked, his tone as gentle as molten lava. “Seven.”

Damen clenched his jaw, feeling every bit of Laurent’s anger himself. He suddenly wished he could bring the Regent back to life just so that he could smother him with his bare hands, watching the life slowly drain out of his eyes.

Laurent lowered his eyes onto their linked hands. “A seven-year-old child.” His voice was cold and emotionless. It sent chills down Damen’s spine. “And all I could think about was how it wasn’t me any longer. That I didn’t have to go through that hell ever again.”

He wanted to yell. He wanted to break something. He wanted to run outside to the palace’s gates and burn what was left of the Regent. He wanted to take Laurent’s pain and bear it for him. 

Nicaise had been a child, but so had Laurent. Both betrayed by their own beauty. Both all alone, besides each other. It wasn’t fair. None of it was. 

“I never watched someone grow up so fast,” Laurent whispered, his voice giving out at the end.

All Damen could see was red. Red flags, red armour, red faces. He couldn’t remember the face of the herald that insulted them that day, but he remembered what he said.  _ This one pleaded for you _ .

“He would have been a fine man,” his voice was hoarse. He felt as if his emotions were running atop of his skin.

Laurent said nothing, his eyes clouded with sorrow. 

Careful not to step any boundaries, Damen reached for Laurent’s other hand. “I would like to build him a garden.” Laurent looked at him. “Something glamorous and ostentatious to remember him by. With a massive statue right in the center.”

Despite the sadness in his eyes, Laurent gave him a half-smile. “It better be made of pure gold.”

Damen smiled, “Would not have it any other way.”

Laurent raised Damen’s hand, placing a kiss against the dark skin on the back of it. An easy silence fell between them.

He looked over Ios, gathering his thoughts together. He watched as wisps of white slowly danced their way across the sky.

“I wish he could have been here with us,” Damen murmured.

Laurent nodded, not offering anything in return.

Although him and Nicaise hadn't exactly been friends back when Damen was in Vere, he had liked the boy. There had been brilliance and fierceness behind his eyes. If it weren't for a single man's pettiness, Nicaise would be here, enjoying the same view they were.

“He would complain about the warmth.”

Damen smiled, “And then stab me with the closest utensil after I told him to suck it up.”

Laurent gave him a small grin, “It is unbearably hot in this country. No wonder you walk around half-naked all the time.”

“You should adopt the trend,” Damen offered, eyeing the outfit that Laurent donned. As usual, not a glimpse of his skin was to be seen besides his hands and face, everything covered by Veretian fabric and laces.

“For my benefit or your enjoyment?” Laurent retorted, amused.

“Both, I'd say,” he grinned.

“I'll consider.”

Something flashed in Laurent’s eyes, but before Damen could discern what it was, Laurent inched closer. Their lips moved into a kiss, smooth and gentle and every bit as soft as the love that filled Damen’s heart.

As they parted, Laurent gave a small smile. Damen grabbed hold of Laurent’s hand, placing a kiss on top of it. And then they were both smiling. Laurent sat back in his chair, letting his fingers lazily lace with Damen’s as they both appreciated the view.

He thought about how different things would have been if Kastor hadn’t betrayed him. Maybe he would have gotten to court the Prince of Vere properly. Maybe he would never even have met Laurent. He wouldn’t have the scars on his back, yes - but he wouldn’t have Laurent’s love either. In a sick and twisted way, he had his brother to thank for this blessing. To live alongside Laurent, the most honest and true man he had ever come across. To love him always.

Revelling in the soft sweeps of Laurent’s thumb on the back of his hand, Damen felt incredibly lucky. This all still felt like a dream, the only reminder of reality the occasional pain in his abdomen.  _ A kingdom, or this _ . He believed that once. And now he had both. 

“What are you thinking about?” Laurent asked.

Damen squeezed his fingers gently, “How incredibly lucky I am.” 

“For being stabbed in the stomach?”

He laughed. “For being stabbed in the stomach.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As always, every comment and kudo and bookmark goes a really long way! I appreciate all of them!!  
> Feel free to contact me on my [tumblr](http://andrewnminyard.tumblr.com), if you'd like!  
> Thank you for reading!


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